Podcast Episodes

The Healthiest "Super-Agers" Have One Thing in Common, According to a 25-Year Study

Season 4 Episode 50

Memory is the glue of life. Without it, our focus softens, our experience of the world blurs, and our identities melt away. But as people age, their memory declines. Many billions of dollars have bee…

Published on 9 hours ago

Plain History: How the Transcontinental Railroads Built the Modern World

Season 4 Episode 49

Today’s pod is about the economic story of the moment. It’s about new technology that supporters claim will transform the U.S. economy, an infrastructure build-out unlike anything in living memory th…

Published on 1 week ago

The Modern World Is Changing America’s Personality For the Worse

Season 4 Episode 48

According to analysis by Financial Times writer John Burn-Murdoch, something extraordinary has happened to Americans’ personalities in the last decade. Longitudinal tests indicate that we’ve collecti…

Published on 2 weeks ago

Will AI Usher In the End of Deep Thinking?

Season 4 Episode 47

Last week, the Bureau of Economic Analysis published the latest GDP report. It contained a startling detail. Spending on artificial intelligence added more to the U.S. economy than consumer spending …

Published on 3 weeks ago

The New Geography of Housing in America

Season 4 Episode 46

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In 1991, the median age of first-time homebuyers was 28. Now it’s 38, an all-time high. In 1981, the median age of all homebuyers was 36. Today, it’s 56—another all…

Published on 4 weeks ago

The Demise of Late-Night TV Is an Omen for American Culture

Season 4 Episode 45

Even before the cancellation of 'The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,' the business of comedy was changing rapidly. Twenty years ago, comedians aspired to be late-night hosts, or to star in movies, or…

Published on 1 month ago

If Trump’s Economic Ideas Are So Bad, Why Isn’t the U.S. Economy Doing Much Worse?

Season 4 Episode 45

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Harvard economist Jason Furman returns to the show to answer two big, burning questions. First, if Trump's economic ideas are as bad as most economists say, why isn…

Published on 1 month, 1 week ago

Fertility Needs a Scientific Revolution

Season 4 Episode 44

Couples are having kids much later in their lives. As young people spend more of their 20s and 30s getting established in their careers, and marriage is delayed, and home buying is delayed, the unsto…

Published on 1 month, 1 week ago

The Mysterious Rise of Major Injuries in Professional Sports

Season 4 Episode 43

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In Game 7 of this year's NBA Finals, Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton tore his Achilles in the first quarter while attempting to drive to the basket o…

Published on 1 month, 2 weeks ago

How Abundance Won in California

Season 4 Episode 42

The California housing crisis is a disaster and an emergency. Housing construction per capita has steadily fallen in the last few decades, while home prices, rent, and homeless rates have all soared.…

Published on 1 month, 3 weeks ago